HMS Sikh (F82)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Sikh.

300px Sikh underway after completion
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Sikh
Namesake:	Sikh
Builder:	Alexander Stephen and Sons, Linthouse
Cost:	£337,704
Laid down:	24 September 1936
Launched:	17 December 1937
Completed:	12 October 1938
Identification:	Pennant numbers: L82/F82/G82
Motto:	Sicut leonis: 'Be like the lions'
Honours and awards:	Norway 1940 Atlantic 1940–41 Bismarck Action 1941 Cape Bon 1941 Libya 1941 Malta Convoys 1941–42 Sirte 1942 Mediterranean 1942
Fate:	Sunk, 14 September 1942
Badge:	On a Field Red. a 'Sikh' lion, Gold, behind his head a Sikh quoit, silver.
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type:	Tribal-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,891 long tons (1,921 t) (standard) 2,519 long tons (2,559 t) (deep load)
Length:	377 ft (115 m) (o/a)
Beam:	36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draught:	11 ft 3 in (3.43 m)
Installed power:	44,000 shp (33,000 kW) 3 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Propulsion:	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	5,700 nmi (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	190
Sensors and processing systems:	ASDIC
Armament:	4 × twin QF 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mk XII guns 1 × quadruple QF 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns 2 × quadruple QF .5-inch (12.7 mm) Mk III anti-aircraft machineguns 1 × quadruple 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 20 × depth charges, 1 × rack, 2 × throwers

HMS Sikh was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The ship entered service in 1938 and served during the Second World War, participating in the sinking of Bismarck and the Battle of Cape Bon. In 1942, while participating in a commando raid, Sikh was sunk by a combination of antiaircraft guns, shore artillery and aerial bombs.

Construction and career

Sikh was built by Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow and commissioned in 1938. The ship entered service as part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy.

In 1941, while under the command of Commander Stokes, she took part in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in 1941. The night before Bismarck was sunk, she fired a salvo of four torpedoes and claimed a hit after hearing underwater explosions, but actually there were no hits.

Sikh transferred to the Mediterranean serving as part of Force H. On 13 December 1941, Sikh — together with Legion, Maori and the Dutch vessel HNLMS Isaac Sweers — sank the Italian cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano in the Battle of Cape Bon.

On 4 August 1942, Sikh together with Zulu, Croome and Tetcott sank the German submarine U-372 off Haifa.

On 14 September, Sikh and Zulu landed and then covered Operation Agreement, a commando raid on Tobruk. Sikh was hit and sunk by German 88 mm guns and/or 152 mm Italian coastal artillery, and by a bomb dropped by a Macchi C.200 — 115 men were lost and many more were taken prisoner. Zulu was damaged and sunk by bombing the following day.